Establishing a School Culture of Collaboration and Growth

Comprehensive, systematic, and transparent feedback systems for teachers and administrators build trust, strengthen relationships, and develop a school culture of collaboration and growth. These input systems, which include formal teaching observation, anonymous surveys, collaborative discussions, reflection, and goal setting, help everyone from students to school leadership feel seen, supported, and empowered.

Successful feedback loops allow every member of a school community to consistently participate in giving and receiving assessment within a transparent system. This reciprocity helps everyone embrace the observations and accept constructive suggestions, knowing that all members of the community are being asked to self-reflect and consider opportunities for growth.

It’s also essential that feedback isn’t focused only on growth and improvement; it’s also about affirmation and celebrating success, which motivates continuous progress.

Feedback for administrators

Administrators play a key role in setting the tone for feedback and creating a positive culture by modeling transparency and welcoming the assessments from faculty through anonymous surveys.

My division head sends out anonymous surveys via SurveyMonkey annually to all faculty, providing a safe way for teachers and staff to share thoughts on leadership and school operations. Then, just as teachers utilize their feedback, the administration reflects on survey feedback focusing on both positive trends to continue and areas that need attention.

Committees are created as needed to help address areas for growth based on feedback trends, allowing faculty to have an impact on positive changes and to see the direct results. Showing that feedback leads to action from the top allows administrators to build trust with faculty while demonstrating that assessment is valuable and impactful for those giving and receiving it.

Feedback for teacher-leaders

Those who serve in a middle management position, such as with my role of director of studies and other teacher leadership roles—e.g., assistant division head, subject area department chairs, and grade-level leaders—also receive anonymous feedback from the faculty that they lead. (I use anonymous Google Forms.) This allows all faculty members to provide direct comments to the leaders directly above them who are often charged with offering their observations to teachers.

After receiving feedback, the teacher-leaders reflect on their practice and meet with supervisors to discuss strengths, areas of growth, and how to align their growth with the overall needs of the school community. It’s helpful for me to view my performance through the eyes of the teachers I work with. It’s affirming to see how certain aspects of my daily job performance support teachers and how I can improve. It also helps me model reflective and goal-setting practices and demonstrates that I’m invested in giving and receiving feedback. This builds trust when those under my leadership see that I’m not asking them to do something that I’m not willing to do myself.

Feedback for teachers

Teachers receive formal and informal feedback through a variety of systems designed to promote their growth and support student learning and are observed using standardized forms to ensure consistency. Observations are done yearly by the division head, the director of studies, and their department chair. After each of these observations, teachers meet with the observer to celebrate successes, discuss insights, set goals, and explore ways that administrators can offer support and encourage growth.

Observing teachers and holding post-observation meetings is my favorite part of my job. My division and I observe and meet with teachers together by the end of December. I am consistently amazed by the level of professionalism and connection with students that I see in classrooms. The post-observation meeting has the potential to be one of the most impactful interactions with teachers from the entire year. These meetings allow us to affirm the amazing work that teachers are doing and model the idea that feedback isn’t only for ways to get better, it is also often an opportunity to celebrate success.

Feedback creates opportunities to encourage teachers to explore their talents. For example, these meetings could result in teachers’ applying to present at national conferences, reworking their units, starting a new club, applying to graduate school, stepping back from one leadership role to try another, and much more.

Knowing that all teachers are going through the same feedback loop allows teachers to understand that they are all being held accountable to the school standard. When teachers need to focus on growth and improvement, the systems in place provide them with that feedback early enough in the year that they can work toward their goals and seek additional support as needed. 

Feedback for teachers from students

Teachers also receive feedback directly from their students a minimum of twice a year, allowing students to share what works well for them and what adjustments could improve their experience in each class. This empowers students and encourages them to reflect on their own learning experiences while also providing teachers with assessments directly from the students. Teachers reflect on the feedback and use it to help inform their instruction. As a teacher, I look forward to this and have found that the trends in students’ praise and criticism are most often spot-on. 

When looking at student observations, teachers are encouraged to consider overall trends. Integrating student feedback into the broader system encourages reflection among students, teachers, and administrators, ensuring that every voice matters.

In my experience as both a teacher and an administrator, a culture of consistent, systematic feedback that includes intentional reflection and action creates a school culture of trust, collaboration, and growth. When everyone in the school community gives and receives feedback, it strengthens relationships among teachers, administrators, students, and families. It also promotes a shared commitment to continuous improvement.

Whether it’s a teacher receiving feedback from students, a leader setting new goals based on faculty input, or administrators collaborating to create change, a well-structured feedback system ensures that growth is a natural part of school culture and everyone knows that their voice matters.